Joe Bauguess talks about inventing the Mini Simmons

Dan's bamboo Simmons

Dan is a great innovative shaper here on the Gold Coast and has been experimenting with his Simmons for a while now. After starting out last year building SUP with bamboo skins and then his short board range , he has now done the Simmons. They are stringerless styrene and look unreal.
Check him out at : www.dmshapes.com

Simmons by Nico and the crew at Wavegliders in Portugal

Rui , sent me these shots of some of the latest boards they have been building.

" After the first simmons Nico kept developing it and using the riders feedback to make small changes on rails, tail, dimensions and fins. All that to make them surf even better. Everybody is loving them."

Nice fins.

If you would like to check out what else they are up to : http://wavegliders.blogspot.com

Chusma Surfboards from North Western Spain

Chus , sent me a link to his blog to check out his boards and share them with you. He builds some nice fish and simmons in his range .




An interesting Simmons with a third fin setup like John Cherry has on his Simmons 21.

The angled tail and distinct concave scoop in the deck at the nose.




Now this is interesting an asymmetric Simmons with keel and quad fins.




Nice to see that the fish and the simmons are a live and well in all far flung parts of the planet and guys like Chus are mixing it up.
Check him out at : http://chusmasurfboards.blogspot.com

Dane goes finless

Always good to see Pro surfers who are willing to try new things rather than white thrusters. Oh sorry I don't mean to get political. But it is good to see.

Fish in the line up

Mike Cunningham took these shots of a couple of Orca or Killer Whales that decided to join them in the waves and bust a few moves for the boys.Big , powerful and just tearing it up at Sandy Bay on the East Coast of the North Island New Zealand.

The 10 foot Simmons for summer...

Full width concave out through the tail with the chine just visible.

S deck and hull entry...

It all flows together pretty nicely...

Chine running on up from the tail and blending into the roll of the bottom and the concave.

Just finished shaping the 10 foot Simmons as my summer experiment. 10ft x 24". Looks good and can't wait for Dan to glass it. Have gone with a rolled entry and a full length concave with a chine in the back 1/3. The fins will sit on top of the chine. So there is quite a bit going on on the underside. Have a nice smooth S deck and it all blends pretty well.I have designed some double foiled cut away bamboo traditional Simmons fins. I have been inspired by what John Cherry has done with his balsa replica Simmons and he has been very helpful with sharing ideas and things that he has learnt from his experience and feedback from riding his board. I wanted to keep as much of the original Simmons outline rocker and fin shapes as possible. But with a tweek of some of what I have learnt with the Mini Simmons I have made.

If you are into recycling and fish then you can't get a better summer project than this.

Mike Sheldrake has been cutting up cardboard and turning it into hollow surfboards.He has experimented with a variety of shapes and details but the 6ft 4" fish is the go.It all comes pre cut , flat packed and you just assemble all the parts. Great looking board. Yes you can surf them and they must be a ton of fun to put together. Great Christmas present as well. You have plenty of time to build one and bring it along to the Fish Fry in March.

Check out Mike at : http://sheldrake.net/cardboards

Marco's report on the European Fish Fry

Marco came out to this years Alley Fish Fry to check us out and enjoy some Aussie waves. He lived in his camper van for 3 months and surfed every day. Great guy and a stylish surfer.He went back to his homeland of Italy to finish organising the 2010 European Fish Fry. If you click HERE you can see his report on Drift

Wood and tints

You just have to love the combination of hand foiled ply fins and resin tints. Thanks to the fish bringing back these two great skills and some art to surfboards.

European Fish Fry 2010

Marco who was at the Alley Fish Fry this year has just sent me a link to this short piece of film of the first European Fish Fry in Italy.

" I'm stoked about how surfers and shapers answered to the callout and I'm really glad to be there. Many people from all around Europe (France, Spain, UK, Portugal) and also from USA and Japan. Great those Italians pro shapers or simple back yard builders who have brought their boards. Lots of good stuff on the green grass and we all enjoyed the full day with Great people. Chris Christenson, Rich Pavel, Robin Kegal, Rob, Casey, Mick and much more. Simply wonderful. And when the wind begun to blow hard we sit and had a big BBQ on the sheltered beach. What's better?!?!? ;-)
Surf was great on Sunday morning with chest to head high barrels at the Northern pier in Forte dei Marmi. That's my home spot.
Lovely

Rich decides together with Michele of Ola Surfboards to hand shape a few board for selected customers and it is suppose to be a great deal for both. "

Great to see the support from Rich Pavel who is willing to travel the world and promote the fish. He has been down here for all 4 Alley Fish Fry's.It's guys like him who give there time and energy that make these things happen. He is a great guy and a legend shaper.Chris Christensen also came down to the first Alley Fish Fry

Franks wooden fish all set to ride.

Frank is a bus driver here on the Gold Coast and loves to get out for a surf. This is his second wooden board and I designed this fish for him. Hollow wooden framed construction and its all come out as a great looking board. Many hours work will be enjoyed over the coming summer.

" Well, it's finally finished and here are the pics. I'm pleased with the result and will now be waxing it up to try it out. It's considerably lighter than the mal I built last year, and hopefully it will perform OK. If the fins don't do the job I hope they will I can try different types of fins. The leash plug is one with the Goretex breather built in, so I won't have to worry about doing the plug up or losing it.
The final measurements are 7'6 3/4" x 22 1/2" x 2 5/8", so the size is spot-on to the original plan."





If you would like to check out Franks progress click here

The Mini Simmons

This has to be the board for this summer. The Simmons is such a fun board that attracts such a lot of attention. Especially from the guys on the white 3 fin set ups.Know what I mean. They look at them and just can't work it out until they are smoked by one in the lineup.

5'4" x 21 1/4" x 2 5/8" - of fun and function .


Go make one or get one made and have more fun than you can imagine.This one is by Jesse Watson from Black Apache Surfboards here on the Gold Coast. I have made a few now myself.They are short and wide with simple fins , but have a fairly complex rail and bottom over a very short distance. But even fairly simple ones seem to work well.
www.blackapachesurfboards.com.au